Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"I was told simulacrums retain most of the memory of the original," Orissa said blandly.

"You know that wasn’t my point," the simulacrum complained. Orissa smiled faintly at him. "I mean, the original doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with the rest of his family. What could I possibly tell you that Daimen hadn’t already?"

"Daimen got really evasive about his parents once it became obvious they don’t approve of our marriage," Orissa said, shaking her head. "He says I shouldn’t worry, that he’ll handle it, but how can I possibly not worry? He clearly thinks the world of them and here they are, coming all the way to another continent to talk him out of marrying me."

"This will probably sound a little flippant, but there’s probably no need for you to worry so much over this," the simulacrum told her. "He’s their darling genius son. Whatever he wants, he’s going to get it. It’s been that way since forever."

"It would still mean a lot to me if you could tell me a little about them before they arrive," Orissa insisted.

Simulacrum number two gave her a contemplative look. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if telling her about Mother and Father would be a good idea. His depiction of them would no doubt be really negative, and might end up worsening tensions between his parents and Orissa as a result. That probably wasn’t in anyone’s interest, least of all Orissa’s.

"You’re basically asking me to stick my hand into the fire, here," the simulacrum said.

"I guess I am," she admitted.

"Then let me ask you something first," the simulacrum said. "Are you interested in Daimen only because of his mind magic bloodline thingy?"

He expected Orissa to be either shocked at the question or explode with outrage. He did not expect her to laugh at him.

"What, are you worried I’m taking advantage of your big brother?" she asked with a grin.

"Just a little," the simulacrum admitted. "He’s an empath, so he should be hard to fool… but you’re a talented mind mage from a family specializing in mind magic. Anything is possible."

"And here Daimen thinks you hate him," Orissa said with a sigh. "To answer your question… it’s definitely not irrelevant. I love him, but if he didn’t have this innate mind magic affinity of his, I probably would not choose to marry him. I love my family too, and I need to keep their interests in mind. However, do you honestly think your brother is marrying me purely for love?"

The simulacrum gave her a surprised look.

"By marrying me, he is marrying into nobility and wealth. It’s not his only concern, but it’s hardly irrelevant. If I was a poor orphan, or even just a well-to-do middle-class girl, he would have never agreed to marry me. So no, I don’t think I’m taking advantage of him. We both have our ambitions. It’s just fortunate that we can fulfil them with someone we actually like."

"Huh," the simulacrum said thoughtfully.

After a few seconds of silence, Orissa spoke up again.

"So can I get an answer to my question, then?" she asked.

"Sure," the simulacrum shrugged. "So, the first thing you should know about our parents is that they’re very driven and ambitious people. Our father, Andir Kazinski, was the fourth son of a wealthy farmer. Our mother, Cikan Kazinski, was the only daughter of one of the few remaining witches, who raised her alone after her husband left her. Father knew that as a fourth son, he would never inherit anything. Thus, when he was 15 years old, he managed to procure a small loan from his father and left home to open his own business. He married our mother less than a year later. Over the years, they had turned that small initial business into a local power that has made them quite wealthy and respected. Well, not by your standards, but…"

"It’s impressive," Orissa nodded. "They reached surprising heights from such humble roots. That must have taken a lot of work."

"They did work very hard to get where they are," the simulacrum agreed. He had his disagreements with Mother and Father, but they had very much earned their wealth and status. Of course, their success involved just as much scheming as it did hard work, but he was pretty sure Orissa understood that part without him having to spell it out. "But while such attitude brought them success, it does have some consequences. Bluntly put, they view almost everything through the prism of how it will reflect on the family reputation and finances. This marriage between you and Daimen… even if Mother and Father thought this was a good thing for Daimen–"

"That’s it! That’s what I’ve been missing all this time! They don’t see the benefit for the family as a whole!" Orissa exclaimed suddenly. "Of course. After putting so much money and effort into Daimen, they naturally expect to see some kind of return for their trouble. Ah… we’ll continue this later, okay? I need to make some arrangements."

The simulacrum watched, surprised and amused, as Orissa hurriedly left the library. He wasn’t entirely sure what happened there, but it would seem that Orissa didn’t actually perceive his parents' attitude as wrong. Considering the sort of background she comes from and her explanation about how her marriage with Daimen came to be… he probably shouldn’t be surprised.

"Well, at least now I know why Daimen likes her so much," simulacrum mused quietly to himself. "She’s like a younger version of Mother! Sometimes life really is a comedy."

In normal circumstances, picking up Mother and Father from Jasuka harbor and bringing them to the Taramatula estate would have been a simple matter. Now that Daimen was under such intense scrutiny, however, this became a huge, complicated endeavor. The Taramatula mobilized a large portion of their manpower to disrupt and distract surveillance operations that kept an eye on Daimen’s movements. When Daimen and Zorian finally left the estate, five other decoy teams, shapeshifted in their likeness, also left at the same time to muddy the water further. Then, all six teams started teleporting around randomly for a while, before each of them made their way to a completely different city.

Despite all these preparations, the whole plan would have surely failed if Daimen had really gone to pick up Mother and Father during this trip. In reality, the whole operation was simply a giant distraction. Its main purpose was to mask the fact that Zorian had created a third simulacrum while they were teleporting around randomly through Koth and then sent it away to hide while they drew everyone’s attention. When Daimen and Zorian returned to the Taramatula estate, Zorian’s brand new simulacrum slowly made his way to Jasuka and then opened a hidden gate between the city and the estate, allowing Daimen to enter and leave the city too quickly for anyone to really intercept him.

Naturally, this meant that Zorian’s involvement was absolutely crucial for the operation’s success. If it weren’t for that, Zorian would have never agreed to take part in it, no matter how much Daimen begged and threatened. How the hell was he supposed to explain his presence in Koth to Mother and Father? No matter how poor their knowledge of magic was, they would surely recognize dimensional gates and simulacrums as high-level magic that should be way beyond him.

"Even if you hadn’t come with me, they would have still realized you were in Koth," Daimen told him. "You are too well known among the Taramatula by now. Someone would have surely let them know about you, whether intentionally or accidentally."

"Maybe, but that wouldn’t have been my problem," Zorian countered. "I’d be back in Cyoria, and it would be your job to figure out an explanation that made sense and deal with their attitude."

Daimen scowled at him, saying nothing.